(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a docking system for handheld electronic communication devices such as cellular telephones or the like, for use with structures or vehicles.
(2) Prior Art
Extraneous radio frequency emission has become a serious concern of hand-held electronic communication devices such as portable facsimile machines, ground position indicators, and cellular telephone manufacturers and users alike. RF radiation is considered a potential carcinogen.
The proliferation of these hand-held devices is evident everywhere. A single hand-held device however, should able to travel with its owner and be easily transferably usable in automobiles, planes, cabs or buildings (including hospitals) as well as at offices and at desks with no restrictions on their use, and without causing concern with regard to the radiation therefrom. The hand-held devices should be portable for a user to carry in his pocket, yet be able to use that same cellular unit in such vehicle or building while minimizing such radiational effect therein.
It is an object of the present invention to permit a user of a portable hand-held electronic communication device such as a cellular telephone or the like, to conveniently use that same hand-held device/cellular phone in an automobile, plane or building, office/desk, or anywhere signal transmission is needed, and to permit such signal to reach its intended destination such as a communications network or satellite, without interfering with other electrical equipment and in spite of interfering walls of buildings or structure and/or other electrical equipment.
It is a further object of the present invention to minimize any radiation from such a portable device, such as a cellular telephone or the like, while such use occurs in an automobile, a building or an elevator, an airplane, a cab, or other public facility in which the user wishes to minimize his own exposure to stray radiation, and also to permit re-transmission of his signal, to avoid the necessity of connecting and disconnecting cables, and to permit a wide variety of cellular telephones such as would be utilized in a rental car where various manufactures"" phones would be used, and to permit control of such re-transmission of signals where desired, so as to allow user/customer billing and monitoring thereof.
The present invention comprises a docking system adaptable to an automobile, plane, building or desk for receipt of an electronic communication device such as a cellular telephone, portable computer, facsimile machine, pager or the like, to permit a user safe, environmentally safe, non-touching, radiationally communicative mating of the antenna of that device to a further transmission line through a juxtaposed pick-up probe, the signal coming in or going out through a communications network or further remote antenna.
The docking system may comprise a xe2x80x9czonexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cfocal areaxe2x80x9d as a generally rectilinear area/volume on/in a desk or work surface on/in which the electronic communication device may be placed, such a surface or space being possible on a desk, or in a plane. That focal area may also, in a further embodiment, be comprised of one or more rooms in a building, such focal area having a pick-up probe thereat, in conjunction with a shield placed on/in the desk, room, vehicle or building to prevent the radiation from that communication device from traveling in any undesired directions within the desk, room, vehicle or building.
The focal area may be defined by a metal walled structure within or on which a broadband probe is arranged. The metal walled structure acts as a shield to minimize radiation from the communication device from passing therethrough. In a first embodiment, the shield may be comprised of a partial housing disposed within the upper work surface of a desk. The probe would be elongatively disposed within the partial housing and be in electrical communication with a transmission line such as coax cable, waveguide, or the like. The partial housing may have a planar dielectric layer thereover, which would also be co-planar with the surface of the desk. The communication device would be placed within the pickup zone of the focal area, and would be able to transmit and receive signals through the dielectric layer. The partial housing would act as the shield in the desk, to minimize radiation by the worker at the desk. In a further embodiment, the housing may be comprised of a thin, generally planar mat of conductive material, which mat may be flexible and distortable, for conformance to a particular work surface and for ease of storage capabilities. The mat has an upper layer of dielectric material (for example, plastic, foam or the like). A thin, flat, conformable coupling probe may be embedded into or printed onto the upper surface of the dielectric material. The mat may be utilized as a portable focal area for placement of a communication device thereon, or wrapped up in an enveloping manner therein.
A yet further embodiment of the present invention includes a control unit in the transmission line from the pickup probe to the further remote antenna. The control unit may comprise a filter or switch connected to a computer. The computer may accumulate billing information, control system functions, or act as a regulator for multiple users of the antenna coupling system.
The invention thus comprises a docking system for connecting a portable communication device to a further signal transmission line, the portable communication device having an externally radiative antenna, the system comprising a shield for restricting at least a portion of any radiation from the externally radiative antenna of said portable communication device, and a coupling probe mounted adjacent to the shield for radiatively coupling between the externally radiative antenna of the portable communication device and the further signal transmission line via radio frequency energy therebetween. The shield may be comprised of an electrically conductive material, or an attenuative material capable of blocking at least part of the radiofrequency radiation energy coming from the communication device(s) connected thereto. The shield defines a focal area for receipt and transmission of a radio frequency signal, when a communication device is placed within the focal area. The focal area or zone, may be selected from the group of structures consisting of a desk, a room in a building, or a tray or the like in a vehicle. The further signal transmission line may be connected to a further communication network and/or a further antenna connected to the transmission line, yet positioned at a location remote from the shield. The transmission line may have a control unit therein, the control unit being arranged to permit regulation of signals being transmitted through the transmission line. The control unit may comprise a computer arranged to monitor time or use of the docking system. The shield and the probe may be spaced apart by a dielectric material. The shield, the probe and the dielectric material may be flexible. The communication device may include at least two cellular telephones (or other portable communication devices) simultaneously connected to the remote antenna.
The invention also includes a method of coupling a portable communication device having an externally radiative antenna, to a signal transmission line having a further remote antenna thereon, for the purpose of effecting radio signal transmission therebetween, the method comprising the steps of arranging a radiation shield in juxtaposition with at least a portion of said radiative antenna of the portable communication device, mounting a coupling probe adjacent the shield and in communication with the signal transmission line, and placing the externally radiative antenna of the portable communication device close to the probe and the shield so as to permit radiative communication between the externally radiative antenna and the signal transmission line via the coupling probe. The method may include arranging the shield in or on a generally planar work surface so as to restrict the propagation of at least a portion of the radiation emanating from the communication device primarily only to the vicinity of the probe. The method may include attaching a control unit to the transmission line to permit regulation of electric signals therethrough, and adding a further communication device in juxtaposition with a further probe, the further probe also being in electronic communication with that control unit, so as to permit multiple simultaneous use of the transmission line and communication system and/or remote antenna therewith. The method of coupling the portable communication device to the signal transmission line, may also include the step of billing any users of the communication and/or remote antenna by monitoring and tabulating any signals received by and sent through the control unit.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a shielded antenna docking arrangement, which itself may be portable, for use with a portable communication device such as a cellular telephone, facsimile machine or ground position indicator or the like, such use occurring in a vehicle such as a plane, an automobile or a cab or in a public or private building, office desk or elevator.